It's timee for you guys to know what I did last month! Are you readyyy? Exactly 1 month and 4 days ago I came back frooom...TANZANIA!! Yes, I WENT TO TANZANIA FOR THE FIRST TIME!!! Yaaaay! \(^_^)/
I mean who has the opportunity to see a country in Africa, not for a normal holiday vacation maybe in those 5 stars hotel near the ocean...NO! But for an amazing VOLUNTEER SERVICE experience in a remote village in the middle of the nature!? I DID! And it was the most meaningful, special and...and speechless journey that I've ever done!
I have always travelled since I was 14 months old but I have always done: Italy-->Sri Lanka and Sri Lanka-->Italy, that's all! Yes...I've always transited in different cities (Vienna, Paris, Dubai, Qatar, Amman, Kuwait, Male) but I've never gone out from the airport for a vitis around...not even once! What a shaaame (T_T)
Aaaanywaays ◕ ¸ ◕ it was A.M.A.Z.I.N.G! For real, I think I won't ever stop telling this! I'm like crazy of Africa...you can't really understand when people talk about "Africa sickness" until you try it yourself!
My school organize every year, for the students of the 4th year of high school, this trip for volunteer service in Tanzania...and every year 10/11 students spend three weeks of July in this Stimatine missionary situated in a village called Msolwa!
We were a group of 7 girls and 4 boys (17-18 years old). We knew each other but not that well because 5 were from "classical high school", 3 from "compute science high school" (I'm in that group) and 2 from "science high school" and a boyfriend of one of the girls...but after this journey, living together for 3 weeks and 24h/24h, we got to knew so well that I think thanks for this experience, now we are a family that shared everything in a unknown country and doing this thing for the first time ever! And...I LOVED IT! Maybe 'cause I'm an only child and even if my family is huge...I got to know how was having 6 big sisters and 4 big brothers!
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| The 11 of us before the adventure began! (This was taken at our school the day of departure) |
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| Us with our "BATMOBILE" ;D |
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| One of the places where we worked! (Sunflower farm/field) |
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| Us in the LAST week in Tanzania! We are all changed inside...FOREVER! (one of the boys was taking the pic) |
We arrived there on the 11th of July to Dar Salaam (capital of Tanzania) and then we started our journey for Msolwa (the village where was our missionary) stopping by a small city called Morogoro. Our missionary was really nice and there was a Secondary School too runned always by the missionary! We were surrounded by so much nature that it reminded me of Sri Lanka and maybe this is one of the reasons why I loved Tanzania: because there were small little things that reminds me of Sri Lanka so bad!
We stayed there until the 1st of August and then we moved again to the capital because we had our flight on the 2nd. It was soo sad leaving the village where we stayed for almost 3 weeks because we (at least the most of us) felt like we were living there since forever.
Every morning we woke up at 7 o'clock and then had breakfast at 7.30 am all together and then at 8 am we were leaving with our awesome white jeep for work. We were working most of the time in the fields; we planted, watered and covered small coffee plants and plants that in the future will give to the local people good quality wood or some times we were in the farm nearby and removing the seeds from the sunflowers! When we were doing the last thing (sunflower work), the other girls were going always crazy because we would find any type of bug or caterpillar! It was soo funny because when they were screaming the local women working with us were laughing too! XD ahaah!
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| Working in the fields |
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| Working at the farm! |
Then at 12.30 am we used to go back at home and have always a great lunch, cooked by a woman called Stella.
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| Our smiling Stella and chef! |
She was helped by 3 other women...this 4 women were all Tanzanian but they could cook like real Italian chefs! All what they cooked was amazing! But how you should already know I LOVE FOOD!
Around 1 pm we always finished eating and until 2.30 o 3 pm we were free. In that gap of time we were always inside the missionary but all of us were doing different things: there was always a group of girls sunbathing in front of our house, 2 o 3 people washing the cloths, some were sleeping in the room or reading a book and then there was me and another girl o sometimes even another of the boys always...ALWAYS walking around the missionary. So we were inside the school or in the school playground, near the female dorms, behind the missionary or near the house of the sisters or even near the male dorm or even near the missionary's workshop and we were always talking...talking and talking or laughing and taking pics (that was me most of the time)!
Then when it was 2.30 or 3 pm we always went around to explore! And our father (Don Zanon) the one who always organizes this volunteer trip in Tanzania (for 21 years now!!) brought us everywhere and showed us every single thing of the Yovi Valley (the valley where is located the missionary)! And he showed us:
- the monkey village
- the banana village
- the water falls
- the baobab village
- a lot of schools and churches that the missionary built true the past years
- a lot of villages
- a safari in Mikumi National Park
- an african wedding (and we were dressed like the Tanzanian woman!!)
- and a lot of other things!
Around 6 or 6.30 pm we were always back at the missionary because around 7 pm we always had dinner (tasty as always (⌒-⌒) )! But before dinner we were always down in the village...at the bar, sitting in front of our (mine and a couple of other friends' one) favourite drink: the STONEY TANGAWIZI!!!! ≧✯◡✯≦
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| MISSING YOUUU! |
After dinner, most of the time, we usually were in the only wifi spot in the mission, uploading some pics that we took with the cell phone or chatting on facebook or facetiming with the family or friends until 10pm when the generator of the mission was switched off!
Yes! We had electricity but only at a certain time like in the morning from 6.30 am till 1.30 pm when the school needed. Then at 4 pm we had light for only 30 or 60 minutes and then again we had to wait till 6.30 pm and last we had light till 10 pm.
After 10 pm we were always together talking and laughing for stories around a fire that we built in the afternoon usually after our walks. It was amazing and fun because we were surrounded by the nature...far away from this technological world that sometimes let you forget of the simple things that are as great as internet, cellphones and video games!
Have you ever heard about the night sky in Africa? Never?? Well...IT'S THE MOST BEAUTIFUL THING IN THE WORLD!!!!!
I'll show you why with a photo taken from one the boys called Enrico Marcantoni (he has a Canon D650)
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| AMAZING! This was taken form one of the guys that come with me |
On saturday and sunday we didn't work and we went always out on adventures! On sunday morning we always went to see the mass and the african mass it's awEsome! Full of dance moves, music, ladies screaming in the typical african way and it was just a beautiful moment to be at (AND I'M A BUDDHIST)!
I really really enjoyed staying there! Every single thing that we did it was amazing and there are so many other things to talk about...REALLY! MANY OTHER THINGS!! I know that all the things that I said about Africa are things that many other people have said but you really can't understand the feelings that every single of us felt staying there! You must try it yourself to understand it!
I think I've got AFRICA SICKNESS!! (Ç_Ç)
I want to thanks my parent for sending me there...especially my MOM! THANK YOU MOM!!
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